Movie: Pacific Rim
This action packed movie is the film I have been waiting for my whole life. Giant man-operated robots (mecha) fighting giant alien monsters, ummm, YES! This movie was filled with great battle scenes and even hit me in the gut with a surprise emotional scene that actually moved me, a very rare occurrence. I loved this movie and it is in my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

TV Show: Person of Interest
Although this is not a new show, it blows away the competition. It always ends on a cliff hanger each week and is filled with great action scenes and conspiracy theories. The mystery surroung the sentient computer is the linchpin of the whole series. We are still waiting to find out how far down the rabbit hole the show will take us in uncovering the full depth of its powers and the nature of the government’s interest in recovering it for its use.

Book: Bloodline – James Rollins
Rollins always delivers. The lastest installment of his Simga Series was a great thrill ride and definitely something that fans of the series have been waiting for with baited breath. I highly suggest starting the Sigma Series if you have not done so; the first book is Sandstorm. It is a series that follows a group of military operatives uncovering historical mysteries that overlap into modern conspiracies while fighting a mysterious covert group. There are plenty of impressive technological advances, nail biting fight scenes, and amazing historical references throughout each book.

Rap Song: Rap God – Eminem
Eminem is not a favorite of many but this song really shows his lyrical skills. He flows and drops impressive rhymes over different beats and really shows that he is a rapper by trade. The man is skilled despite critiques of race and rap’s gentrification. Eminem may or may not be THE rap God but he sure puts his talents on display in this song.
“Kneel before General Zod this planet’s Krypton, no Asgard, Asgard
So you’ll be Thor and I’ll be Odin
You rodent, I’m omnipotent
Let off then I’m reloading
Immediately with these bombs I’m totin’
And I should not be woken
I’m the walking dead
But I’m just a talking head, a zombie floating”
” My honesty’s brutal
But it’s honestly futile if I don’t utilize
What I do though for good
At least once in a while so I wanna make sure
Somewhere in this chicken scratch I scribble and doodle
Enough rhymes to
Maybe try to help get some people through tough times
But I gotta keep a few punchlines
Just in case cause even you unsigned
Rappers are hungry looking at me like it’s lunchtime
I know there was a time where once I
Was king of the underground
But I still rap like I’m on my Pharoahe Monch grind
So I crunch rhymes
But sometimes when you combine
Appeal with the skin color of mine
You get too big and here they come trying to
Censor you like that one line I said
On “I’m Back” from the Mathers LP”

“Let me know when it occurs to you
While I’m ripping any one of these verses that versus you
It’s curtains, I’m inadvertently hurtin’ you
How many verses I gotta murder to
Prove that if you were half as nice,
your songs you could sacrifice virgins to
School flunkie, pill junky
But look at the accolades these skills brung me
Full of myself, but still hungry
I bully myself cause I make me do what I put my mind to
When I’m a million leagues above you
Ill when I speak in tongues
But it’s still tongue-in-cheek”
Yeah, Eminem is killing these verses, I don’t care what anyone says, he brings the lyrics.

Empowerment Song: Q.U.E.E.N – Janelle Monae & Erykah Badu
“I’m cutting up, don’t cut me down.” Is the perfect line from this song that epitomizes the ideal that it sets forth. These two women are their own artists that “break all [our] rules.” Erykah is undoubtedly a Queen of her craft, I refuse to categorize Ms. Badu in one genre because she is an artist and rocks on her tracks as a musician and vocalist. Ms. Monae is new on the scene in comparison but has also definitely made herself uncategorizable as well. This collaboration has an amazing beat and live instruments overlaid with lyrics that encompass the message of staying true to oneself; a message both women truly embody through their work.
“Categorize me, I defy every label
And while you’re selling dope, we’re gonna keep selling hope…
Will you be electric sheep?
Electric ladies, will you sleep?
Or will you preach?”
*Message!

R&B Song: I’d Rather Have a Love – Joe
This song showcases Joe’s vocal range and it is a beautiful love song. It is discusses the fear many of us have of falling in love. The song embodies how love can strike at any moment when Joe talks about how he met a woman and she “caught me by surprise.” The song is my version of Killin’ Me Softly, it’s like he found MY letters and put them on this track.
“I was about to find myself alone but I found myself in love.
It’s gonna take a minute to evolve but I’d rather have a love than nothing at all.
I’m ready for a love of my own
Can’t stay in this place forever, even though I want to, I just see us together
And I’d rather have a love than a life alone.”

New Comic Book: Mighty Avengers
Spectrum (Monica Rambeau) and Luke Cage are featured in this comic that is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. The story is interesting and it is filled with characters of color from page to page. It is a comic that if I had kids, I would want them to read in order to see representations of themselves in comics. The fight scenes are great, the storytelling is fun, the villains are calculating, and the surprise appearances by characters keep coming. I can’t wait for the future issues of this series.

Best Resurrection from TV series to Comic Book: Samurai Jack
Samurai Jack is Back! Cartoon Network & Jim Zub gave us our favorite Samurai hero back in this comic. I did a review of this awesomness Here